A call center distributes calls for handling among call-center agents. Modern call centers typically perform skills-based matching between calls and agents. This involves having a record of individual agents' skills, determining individual call's needs, and then matching agents with calls based on which agent's skills best match a call's needs.
In multi-ethnic nations—the United States of America being an example—many people have a language other than the national language as their native language. They often feel more comfortable with their native language, and would prefer to use their native language to conduct business. Furthermore, almost all persons who have a native language different from the national language have an accent in the national language, which often makes it more difficult for them to be understood by call-center agents. Thus, persons with accents often require more time and focus on the part of the agents to handle their calls, and there may be discomfort in the quality of the interaction.
The problem exists in reverse as well: It is becoming common to implement call centers that serve a nation's populace in foreign countries, often for cost reasons. In this situation, it is the agent, and not the calling or called party (referred to herein as the communicant), that has a native language different from the national language and therefore has an accent in the national language, with all of the problems associated therewith. Moreover, even if the two nations, or even different regions of the same nation, have a common language, their manner of speaking it (accent) maybe so different as to cause the same problems. For example, many nations of the British Commonwealth have English as their national language, but speak it with widely different accents.
Interactive voice response (IVR) systems often provide services in multiple languages, and ask a caller to select the desired language from a menu of options. This requires many multi-lingual agents even when the customer is multi-lingual, because the IVR system can only detect one response, and thus cannot indicate that the customer is multi-lingual. If the desired language is not supported by the IVR system, the caller must select his or her secondary language. In any case, these calls are matched with agents without regard for accent.